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77
authorise the establishment by any local Authority of a
general domiciliary service by medical practitioners."
An account of the steps taken by the Borough Council to supply
food and milk to expectant and nursing mothers and children under
five years of age, is given in the Section relating to Food.
While practically all the present activities of the Public Health
Department, tending as they do to improve the public health generally,
must in some measure, more or less directly, make for physical improvement
in the health of mothers and children, it is quite apparent to
even a casual observer that much more remains to be undertaken.
Aided by our increased knowledge and experience we must utilise new
ways and means, supplementing, as far as possible without lessening
parental responsibility. It is, of course, fully recognised that the
children's welfare is the primary concern of the parents, but it is
evident that the State must, where necessary, still more and more
supplement parents' endeavours when the healthy future of the coining
generation is concerned, for it is rapidly becoming more realised that
healthy children are a nation's greatest asset.
The Medical Officer of Health and School Medical Officer of the
London County Council has favoured me with a statement of the
results of Medical Inspection in Elementary Schools in Hampstead in
1919. These figures afford subject-matter for serious consideration;
they clearly indicate that much yet remains to be done if the Borough
Council is effectually to supervise the child life of Hampstead up to the
time that the children are of school age. The subject deserves careful
study, for while, as might be expected, of the Hampstead children
examined only 0.2 per cent required treatment for malnutrition, compared
with 0.5 in all London, it is somewhat surprising, for instance, to
find that 31.8 per cent. of Hampstead scholars examined required
treatment for defective teeth, as compared with 25.6 for all Loudon.
It is to be hoped that the further development by the Borough Council
of the work in connection with maternity and child welfare will lead to
an appreciable improvement in the health of the young children.